The hype around Docker shows no signs of abating, and now Oracle is hoping to get in on the action and potentially make a profit. The database giant has just made images of the Oracle Linux distro available on the Docker Hub, a registry developers use to choose which tools and components they want to use to build their Docker apps.

It’s an interesting move from Oracle. Docker’s open-source container tech has generated lots of excitement among developers, but to date there’s not a whole lot of adoption going on, as a recent Canonical survey revealed.

Nevertheless, there’s certainly lots of adoption with Linux. Servers running on Linux host more than a third of the world’s websites, but it’s notable that Oracle Linux is far from being the most popular distro. That honor goes to Debian, followed by Canonical’s Ubuntu, CentOS and Red Hat, says web technology analyst firm W3Techs. As far as this relates to containers, Ubuntu is the most downloaded Linux image on the Docker Hub, followed by CentOS.

But Oracle clearly sees potential for its own distro in Docker. After all, Docker needs to run on an OS of some kind, and by packaging an Oracle-supported version of MySQL, it thinks it might just be enough to sway developers.

Given Docker’s relatively low level of adoption so far, Oracle Linux still has a fair chance of becoming one of its most popular platforms – and if that happens, perhaps Oracle might even be able to get a revenue stream going from it.

There’s every reason to think Docker’s adoption will grow. The Docker project has attracted support from just about every IT vendor and service provider worth mentioning, including Google with its private, cloud-based container registry service, and Amazon Web Services with its container management service. Microsoft Azure also supports Docker.

“With Oracle Linux and MySQL images available on the Docker Hub Registry, users will be able to quickly create and publish custom Docker containers that layer applications on top of Oracle Linux and MySQL, which is a great time-saver for both independent software vendors and IT departments,” said Wim Coekaertz, senior vice president for Linux and virtualization engineering at Oracle.

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